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Kenya's unique landscape supports abundant and varied wildlife of scientific, intrinsic, and economic value and has a considerable extent of wildlife habitat (Government of Kenya 2008, 2009; KWS 2008; Western 2008). With a significant population of wildlife living outside protected areas on a seasonal or permanent basis, the country's wildlife resource has suffered from the effects of human economic activities, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, demand for wildlife products in the illegal market, and weak legislation, among other factors (Kamande 2008; KWS 2009). Poaching and other wildlife crimes have been on the increase in the recent past. These crimes have both direct and indirect negative impacts on local communities, including depletion of the resource base on which they depend for their livelihoods and altering of local environmental conditions. Environmental and wildlife crimes pose a great threat to national, regional, and international conservation efforts. Kyale (2006), Murimi (2007), ISS (2008), and Kamweti et aL (2009) point that in Africa the prevention and combating of crime involving natural resources such as water, forests, wildlife, and the environment in general should be of primary concern due to the human population's reliance on natural resources. Thus, according to ISS (2008) and KWS (2011), any crime committed involving natural resources not only degrades the environment, but also deprives the local population of their basic needs. Environmental and wildlife security issues are therefore also vital national security interests in Kenya because most citizens are engaged daily in a struggle to survive, and local people depend on the environment for their livelihoods.
Wildlife-related crimes in Kenya have been evolving over time and continue to present growing challenges to wildlife conservation. In the past, Kenya experienced high levels of elephant and rhino poaching that almost drove their populations to extinction (KWS 201 2). Poaching was mainly conducted by armed bandits from Somalia and was prevalent in pastoral areas outside wildlife protected areas. This forced some animal species to abandon their rangeland and territories and seek refuge in parks. The period before the establishment of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in 1989 was characterized by massive poaching, general insecurity in the parks, inefficiency, low staff morale, and inadequate equipping of the agency charged with the responsibility of conserving and managing Kenya's wildlife.
Since the establishment of KWS,...